It always surprises me that when August the 14th comes around no one on this forum ever mentions the significance of that date. Especially this anniversary as it happens to be 50 years since the passing of the Marine Offences Act. I suppose I shouldn't really be suprised as most of you are probably not old enough to remember this important part of radio history. (except maybe for Albert) Pirate radio maybe would not exist today if it wasn't for the pioneering offshore stations of the 60s and 70s. We all now take radio for granted but what these guys went through to put stations on the air now seems unbelievable. IE, Shootings, Radio City. Fire bombings, RNI. The Dutch raid on Caroline, Euro Siege on Laser, numerous sinkings, groundings and mast collapses. For those of us that have a passion for radio we must never forget the pirates of the past.

I usually put on a little something on August 14th. This year, I'm outside the UK. so there's not much point. The MOA anniversary might mean something to my Dutch friends, since it meant that they got a couple of broadcasters off their coast for a while, but it won't really mean anything around here!